This invention relates to telecommunications contact centers, and more specifically, to an improved technique of controlling and monitoring a plurality of agent stations in the contact center.
Many large customer oriented companies maintain a call center in order to permit agents to interact with customers. A typical example of such a call center would be that maintained by an airline or credit card company, where customers may call in with questions, make reservations, etc. Often the call centers include the ability to do automated outbound calling to selected customers as well.
Recently, these call centers have evolved into full xe2x80x9ccontact centers.xe2x80x9d A contact center is substantially the same as a call center other than the fact that communications may be in a variety of media, instead of just by telephone. For example, a contact center may have the ability to support agent customer interaction via e-mail, web chat, video, etc. The particular types of interactions are the subject of the client""s own choice, and the contact center may support some or all such interactions.
Contact centers will often co-exist and complement PBX systems. PBX systems provide telephony functions to a set of users in a business environment. In one type of architecture, contact center software will direct the operation of the PBX via a computer telephony interface (CTI) link.
Recently, full contact center systems have become available that comprise both contact center software and contact center switches in a single system. One such contact center system is sold by the Assignee of the present patent application under the trademark CCPRO. These contact center systems typically comprise a plurality of call center software applications as well as switching capability for routing incoming and outgoing contacts between customers and agents. In many modem contact centers, the call center system is added to an existing PBX system.
When adding a call center system, an issue arises regarding how to integrate such new hardware, and associated software, with the existing PBX and agent stations. Specifically, both the PBX and the contact center switch contain switching capacity, and both may be addressing the same set or subset of users. Thus, there is the potential for conflict in controlling the operation of the call center. It is important to note that either the PBX or the contact center switch can use either traditional analog or digital telephony to connect the desktop devices together, and to connect desktop devices to the public networks; or either or both the PBX or the contact center switch can use packet or cell based data networksxe2x80x94for example, an Internet protocol networkxe2x80x94to provide such connectivity.
FIG. 1 shows a typical technique utilized to integrate the call center applications hardware/software (hereinafter xe2x80x9ccall center application""s switchxe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9ccall center switchxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cswitchxe2x80x9d) with the PBX. In the arrangement of FIG. 1, a semi-permanent connection is xe2x80x9cnailed upxe2x80x9d between call center applications 102 and telephones 104-106. The PBX is used to nail up this connection, operating as a semi-permanent patch panel rather than an actual switching device. Specifically, the PBX is utilized to establish semi-permanent connections from telephones 104-106 to call center applications switch 102. The semi-permanent connections are established when an agent logs on to the contact center system, and persist during the period of time in which the agent is logged in. Different semi-permanent connections are established through PBX 103 for each of the telephones 104-106. The nailed up connection is initiated by switch 102 after the agent at one of terminals 107-109 logs onto switch 102. Switch 102 knows which telephone extension is associated with each of terminals 107-109, and can thus nail up the appropriate connection. The data and voice terminal are associated with each other to form the agent positions 120-122 as shown.
In the arrangement of FIG. 1, call center switch 102 includes switching hardware analogous to that included in the PBX. Thus, all of the applications and the switching are executed on the hardware denoted call center switch 102. The PBX is simply left to patch connections together.
One problem with the arrangement of FIG. 1 is the increased cost resulting from all of the connections. Specifically, switch 102 requires a port to connect to each of data terminals 107-109, another port for each voice terminal 104-106 connected to the switch through the PBX 103, and still further ports for connecting to the public network 101. This increases hardware and software requirements, as well as cost, and also decreases reliability by having too many failure points.
A second configuration for utilizing a call center application switch to implement a call or contact center is shown in FIG. 2. The arrangement of FIG. 2 includes a local area network (LAN) 210 for interconnecting the call center application switch 206 with a plurality of agent stations. The functionality required for all of the call center applications, as well as the ability to switch contacts into and out of the call center, is contained within call center application switch 206. It is noted that while the LAN 210 is shown as interconnecting the agents with the call center application switch, separate connections between the call center switch 206 and agents 201-204 may also be implemented. The approach shown in FIG. 2 also has several flaws. One problem is that the PBX is eliminated from the entire architecture. The functionality of the PBX is instead implemented in call center application switch 206. However, since such a switch is not designed to be a full PBX, some of the functionality of a typical PBX is not included in such a call center switch. For example, general purpose conferencing, unified messages and other functions normally included in the PBX are typically not included in a call center applications switch.
Still another architecture for integrating a call center application switch with the PBX is shown in FIG. 3. The architecture of FIG. 3 includes a separate PBX 302 and a call center applications switch 301. Each of the PBX 302 and call center application switch 301 may independently talk to a wide area network (WAN) 350. Agents that require a call center applications to service customers are connected to a LAN 320 for communication with call center applications switch 301. General personnel within the company, whose telephone sets are indicated by 303-306, are connected only to PBX 302 for general inbound and outward calling. Finally, supervisory personnel 311-315, who require access to both the PBX 302 for general calling purposes, and to call center applications switch 301 to monitor and/or participate in call center applications, are connected to both PBX 302 and call center applications switch 301.
The arrangement of FIG. 3 permits those personnel utilizing mostly PBX functionality to configure their systems with only one port for access to the PBX. Personnel stationed at stations 307-310 are typically configured for access to call center applications switch 301. The disadvantages of the arrangement shown in FIG. 3 is that any of the personnel at stations 311-315 may be on the telephone or servicing a contact from either PBX 302 or call center applications switch 301, when the other of the two requests contact with the particular person. Moreover, the stations 311-315 which require access to both, also require duplicative hardware and software.
In view of the above, there exists a need in the art for an improved and economical manner in which a contact center system can be integrated into a system, which also includes a PBX. Ideally, the functionality of both the PBX and contact center applications switch 301 should be utilized in conjunction with one another to maximize the effectiveness of the system.
The above and other problems with the prior art are overcome in accordance with the present invention, which relates to an integrated contact center capable of inward/outbound calling which utilizes both a call center application switch and a conventional PBX. Both are in communication with all agents over a local area network, and software resident preferably in the applications switch controlxe2x80x94directly or indirectlyxe2x80x94which of either the applications switch or the PBX accesses and/or controls the various agent stations.
Control of agents stations may be passed between the PBX and contact center switch either on a temporary bases or a semi-permanent basis, or even on a permanent basis. Tables may be maintained in the call center applications switch indicating all of the agents available online, and which of the PBX or call center applications switch has control over such agents.